23 September 2011

Egg tart recipe

Today started with me missing my mom and then crying. It wasn't until I got to work and really immersed myself in my tasks that the deep sorrow was drowned out of my mind. I was just too busy to think about anything else. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. This time it was good, I guess.

Work has been busy, as usual. Yesterday, our team was supposed to do some cleaning and rearranging of seating places and it ended up being me who did it as everyone else went on break at that time. Even though we had a "meeting" scheduled and no one said anything to me about how it wasn't a good time for them. My hide was very chapped! (This most likely contributed to my not-so-chipper emotions this morning.) But, if I didn't do the stuff that needed to be done, another team couldn't move out of the seat I needed to move into. It took me much longer than what it should have and I left for the day without reading/answering some emails, a huge mess on my new desk and my computer not set up. Then today, the others finally got their act together and started cleaning and organizing the rest of the files and desks (which affected them). I didn't lift a finger! And if someone would have asked me, I would have politely refused to help. Petty, I know, but it truly irked me.

On the bright side, Mr Siili called mid-day to see how I was doing. It was so sweet of him. I also decided to spoil myself at lunch with some guava juice and a moon cake. It definitely made me feel better. And on an even better note, I decided to make Egg tarts tonight!

Egg tarts are something I discovered while in Shanghai. They have a thin pastry shell, an eggy-custard middle and so delish!! I made them once already since I've been home just over a week now and I had to make them again because, 1) they are that good and 2) I really wanted to take some pictures to go along with the recipe when I share it. Without further ado, here is the recipe.

Finished Egg tarts*
Hong Kong Egg Tart(makes around 12 egg tarts)

Ingredients for butter pastry:
100g room temperature butter
200g plain flour
1 egg
50g sugar
Ingredients for egg filling:
100ml water
80g sugar
3 eggs
100ml milk

 Directions for butter pastry:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius
1) Mix butter to the flour and sugar mixture
2) Add egg
3) Knead it into a dough
4) Press the pastry into the moulds gently using your two thumbs. Try not to have a thick pastry bottom.
5) Punch holes into the pastry with a fork

Directions for egg filling:
6) Melt water and sugar together (I just used the microwave for a second)
7) Add milk and eggs, beat and mix well
8) Sieve the mixture two times to get a smooth egg filling
9) Pour the egg filling into the pastry moulds
10) Bake it in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for 15-20 minutes. The egg should still be wobbly (you don't want to overcook it!)


My little helper, Rusty. He shares his cat hair freely.
I Googled and found this recipe (and others) from DessertzHouse. She also has an updated and slightly different version, which I haven't tried yet, but I think I will.
*I was so excited to eat a warm egg tart and I was in th emiddle of writing this post, that I almost forgot to take a picture of the final product, which is why there are 2 tarts missing. They are already in my and Mr Siili's tummies.